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Bedford railway station is in Ashburnham Road, which can be seen on the left hand side of the map. The station forecourt can be seen on the left hand side of Ashburnham Road, between the Ashburnham Road itself and the railway line.
The above map was produced from a screen snapshot, taken of a map provided courtesy of Google Maps. If you wish to view such a map dynamically, please got to http://maps.google.co.uk/ and enter the postcode MK40 2BU. You will see a map of central Bedford, complete with a little green arrow pointing to the house where I live. The map will allow you to zoom in and out and move round and about. It will also allow you to see a satellite view of Bedford. In honour of the said satellite, I may have to consider waving, whenever I leave my home, just in case the satellite camera is turned on and scanning Bedford at the precise time I leave!
There are a number of hotels in Bedford. Some are better than others. I heartily recommend the Bedford Swan Hotel, which is fabulous in every way. It is a beautiful building, the service is excellent, and so is the food, it is very well situated, being in the centre of the town and next to the River Ouse at one of its most picturesque locations. In fact the view across the river to the Bedford Swan Hotel is very beautiful. It takes in the Town Bridge, the Bedford Swan Hotel itself and, in the background, the Market Square and the spire of St Paul's Church. In fact, this view is so nice it is used as the backdrop to all of Anglia Television News reports.
A slightly less accessible hotel, but one which is in an even more lovely location, is the Barns Hotel in Cardington. This hotel is one of the folio hotels hotel chain. It is situated right by the side of the River Ouse and there is a veranda where one can take one's drinks and spend a very enjoyable few hours watching the pleasure boats going up and down. In fact the last time I was there on my own, sipping a mineral water, which I made last for a good hour, I saluted, and was saluted by, several pleasure boat owners. A case of one epicurean hedonist, saluting another. This is the ideal place for epicurean hedonists, rich and poor. Hell, I'm on incapacity benefit at the moment! However, living on £61 per week does not preclude me from paying £1:50 for a mineral water and enjoying an hour in the company of people who would doubtless be willing to pay a great deal more for the pleasure.
On the other side of the coin there is the Park Inn. I almost feel I should try and persuade people to boycott this hotel. It is not that there is anything wrong with the hotel itself, at least from the inside. However, the building in which it is housed would definately qualify for Prince Charles's usual exoriation of "Monstrous Carbuncle". It is quite litterally a blott on the landscape, as I was forced to reflect again today, as I was sitting at the river's edge, contemplating the lovely view and wishing that the great grey slab of multi-story excrement, was not there, smack bang in the middle of it maring the view. Park Inns should be ashamed of themselves. They should contact an Architect, show them the beauty of the Swan Hotel and the Barns Hotel and then tear down the Park Inn and start again with a building inspired by those two other, much more attractive, riverside locations.
Anyway the Web Addresses for these Bedford Hotels, including the excrably housed Park Inn, are shown below:
The star rating system you will find here is my own. A five star rating, viz: "*****" indicates a restaurant which, in my opinion, has acheived as close an approximation to absolute perfection as it is possible to get. A one star rating, viz "*" indicates a restaurant which, in my view, is hardly worth visiting. However, if I consider a restaurant to be worth nothing more that a one star rating it is unlikely that I will bother to list it.
I may also rate a restaurant thus: (_____). Such a rating should be taken to indicate that I currently have insufficient information with which to rate the restaurant. However, if I have listed the restaurant at all, you may take it that there is something which makes that restaurant worth investigating. This might be anything. For example, I cannot rate the restaurant at the Barns Hotel, since I have not yet eaten there. However, I can tell you that it is situated next to the most delightful riverside view in the whole of Bedford. You would be well advised to give it a try for that reason alone.
Obviously, I cannot list every restaurant in Bedford. In particular, there is one single street here, i.e. Tavistock Street, which has more restarants than you could shake a stick at. Most of the restaurants in Tavistock Street are Indian Restaurants, although there are also a number of Chinese Take Aways and a couple of take away: Kebab / Burger/ Fried Chicken outlets. With regard to the large number of Indian Restaurants, it could be said that Tavistock Street is Bedford's very own Brick Lane.
In my view this is by far the best hardware store in Bedford. In fact, I rather suspect that this is the best hardware store in the entire country! You would certainly be hard pressed to ever find anywhere better.
Goldings is an anachronism. However I mean that in a Good way. Britain was great once upon a time. Once upon a time, the term Great Britain meant more than that it was a conglomeration of 3.5 separate countries.
Goldings is a precious reminder of a time when the British were a people who knew what they were doing. This is going tom seem very strange to the modern reader. However, Great Britain was once the home of competent Scientists, Designers and Engineers. In fact some of those Scientists, Designers and Engineers were not merely competent. Some of them were good, some of them were very good. Some of them even, were brilliant. Goldings is a living representation of such times. Goldings is a place where excellence lives on!
Time has stood still at Goldings of Bedford. It is a very precious find. Goldings of Bedford is a living representative of the time when Britain was a great country and "Made in Britain" was a sign of Quality.
I found this shop to be invaluable when I first moved to Bedford. If I needed any keys cut, I went to Goldings. If I needed a complete set of drill bits, for wood and metal and masonary, I went to Goldings. If I needed any item for my new home, from fuses for my plugs and fuse boxes to a drain plug for my kitchen sink, I went to Goldings.
When I volunteered to do some work in my friend Teresa's garden I purchased a fabulous pair of Garden shears from Goldings to cut back her bushes and hedges and to attack and destroy the thistles and weeds which had colonised the more inaccessible regions at the bottom of her Garden.
However, the time Goldings really excelled themselves was after the first time I had worked in Teresa's garden. While fighting with her the electric flex to her lawn-mower, being as yet unfamiliar with an electric mower and therefore nervous of the possibility of running over the flex and electrocuting myself, I failed to notice one of her garden ornaments, a giant metal ant, about a foot long, standing on her lawn. As I stepped back, to move the mower over a piece of long grass I discovered that I had inadvertently stepped on her Ant. I picked it up to examine it and noticed that I had bent the metal rod which connected it nether regions to the trunk of its body. I attempted to straighten it and the two halves suddenly snapped apart in my hands.
It took me a long time to get the Ant repaired. The next I visited Teresa's home, I took along a Soldering Iron and solder with me. These items had also been purchased in Goldings. Once I discovered the place, I didn't really shop anywhere else if I needed tools or items of hardware. I lay on Teresa's back step and attempted to solder the two halves of her Ant back together again. However, just like All the Kings Horses and All the Kings men, I completely failed to put this Humpty Dumpty back together again.
At the end of the day I took the ant home with me. I hoped to consider at my leisure, how best to address the problem of fixing it. I could think of nothing that would work other than to drill into the section of the ant's body into which the broken segment had originally been inserted. I would then slot the broken section into the hole I had made. With the item mechanically secured in this way I hoped to repeat my attempt with the soldering iron. This time, I thought, perhaps it might work?
The problem with this approach was that the model ant had a very irregular body shap. The question that presented itself to me was: How would I be able to secure the ant's body so that I would be able to drill into it? I had a number of cardboard boxes, full of books, in my flat. I had recently moved in. I had not yet fully unpacked. This was because there was not sufficient wall space for my books. I decided that some of these boxes might come in useful. If I could find some sort of vice to secure the ant, I might be able to place it under a pile of these boxes and, with the ant thus secured, drill into it. The trouble was, I had no idea what sort of vice I could use to secure something with such an irregular topology as the upper body of Teresa's Ant. There was nothing for it. Another trip to Goldings was called for. This time I would take the ant with me.
I strode into Goldings and I walked straight to the back counter, where I knew that all of the arcane matters of DIY and Key Cutting were addressed. I held up Teresa's Ant and I explained my problem. I told them the sad and sorry tale of my ineffectual attempts to fix this garden ornament to date.
The gentleman behind the counter took one look at the Ant and said, "Well I don't think I'd have too much trouble with it, Sir." To which I replied, "Well, I'll give you a tenner if you can fix it!" He did not need me to repeat my challenge. He accepted immediately with the words: "You're on!" I asked him when I should call back and collect it. He told me. I was able to pick up a nicely repaired garden ornament, looking just like new, about a week later.
I examined the finished product. The work was exceptional. The gentleman had welded the two sections together. They would not break apart again unless I trod on it once more. I was not about to do that!
It was with a great deal of pleasure that I telephoned Teresa a few days later and invited myself down to her home in South London, so that I could return her Ant. She was rather pleased with the result. The man at Goldings had done a most excellent job!
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If you live im Bedford and you would like to cook yourself a curry, this is the place to go for all of your spices. They have everything here including:
The above list is by no means exhaustive. Rice and Spice have a host of other stuff besides. However, the above list is the core of any curry fanatics armoury. At Rice and Spice they have it all!
You may have a little trouble finding Rice and Spice. This is because, although "Rice and Spice" is the name that is shown on their printed receipts, it is not the name displayed above the door. The name displayed above the door is "Express Stores".
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Bedford has a most excellent Sainsbury's. Large and well stocked they have everything from cabbage and potatoes to Chorizo, Fresh Ginger, Waldorf Salad, Stir Fry ingredients and wonderful anti pasta and some most excellent Yarden Houmous.
If you are having a dinner party and you cannot find what you want in the city centre M & S, this is the place to come. In addition to the range of exotic items listed above, which is far from exhaustive, they also have a most excellent delicatessen counter, meat counter and fish counter. Their bakery section is also worth a visit. The olive Parve is to die for!
If you find yourself in need of live yoghurt, and you cannot find it in any of the local health food shops, Sainsbury's, Fairfield Park stock it by the bucket load. Whether you want Onken, St Helen's Goats Milk Yoghurt or any of the many other propriatary brands of this wonder food, Sainsbury's, Fairfield Park is the place to come.
Whatever food items you need, it is unlikely Sainsbury's, Fairfield Park will let you down. However, if they do, if there is some exotic spice you cannot find here, do not despair and think, "Oh my, I'll need to go into London for this one!" Give Rice and Spice a try first.
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The main centre for the performing arts in Bedford is the Corn Exchange in St Paul's Square.
One of the premier galleries for the graphic arts is the Cecil Higgins Art Gallery. Unfortunately, this gallery is now closed for refurbishment. It is unlikely to re-open any time before 2008.
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If New Age venues are what you are looking for then I can heartily recommend the venue named, "The Body of Light Holistics". Their website is at web address: http://bodyoflight111.com/. The Website should tell you all you need to know about this institution and what they do. However, I should give you one word of warning about their website. It has not been well designd. All of the buttons, which you can click in order to find out about their specific services, are on the right hand side of the PC screen. They are out of view when you first bring the website up on your screen. However, if you slide the slider at the bottom of the screen you should be able to find whatever information you might be looking for.
Anyway the body of light is a most excellent space, in spite of the fact that its owner, Robert, started it up so that he could practice EFT. For myself I find that I have absolutely no belief in EFT. However, having said that, Robert has, by some divine providence, created a genuinely sacred space. He has also brought together a collection of people who are extremely good at what they do.
So there you have it. Notwithstanding a less than perfect website, The Body of Light is something of a gem. It is an Oasis of peace and tranquillity in the heart of Bedford. At least two of the therapists I have met there are two of the nicest people you could ever hope to meet.
The contact details for The Body of Light are as follows:
Address:
40 Priory Street
Bedford
MK40 1HS
Telephone Number: 01234 327 090
e-mail address: Bodyoflight@hotmail.co.uk
Web Address: http://bodyoflight111.com/
The map below shows the exact location of The Body of Light Holistics:
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There are at least two Salvation Army Charity Shops in Bedford. There is a conventional Charity Shop in the public square by the Bus Station. Then there is a separate Salvation Army Charity Shop selling only clothing. This second charity shop is located in the High Street. The contact details for both shops are as follows:
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There are a number of sports facilities in Bedford.
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If you are a new resident to Bedford there are a number of things you might need to know. These might include, the location of the local launderette. Recommendations for a good restaurant in the area and advice on local shopping facilities. Some of these items are addressed below:
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I found myself asking this question after I recently purchased a Wok. I was interested to know where one would be able to purchase Sesame oil, water chestnuts, beanshots and other Wok like ingredients. It would seem that the best gourmet shopping on offer is available at Sainsbury's at 90 Clapham Road, Bedford MK41 7PJ, telephone: 01234 363 150. Certainly one can find all of the above listed ingredients in that store. The Water Chestnuts will be in a can but they are at least obtainable. If you wish to find Sainsbury's on the map, please make a note of the postcode and search for it on maps.google.co.uk.
As for where Bedford's gourmets might be, if they happen to be in the mood for a good meal out, then you will doubtless find them at Four, that very fine Italian Restaurant at 4 Kimbolton Rd.
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You can find a decent lauderette, close to the centre of Bedford at 57 Tavistock Street, Bedford, MK40 2RF. Telephone number: 01234 271 448. If you wish to find the launderette on a map, please make a note of the postcode and search for it on maps.google.co.uk.
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The lauderette in Tavistock Street does not sell laundry bags. If you need some, you can buy them at Pound Around, which is located at 8 Greenhill Street Bedford, MK40 1LX. Greenhill Street is adjacent to the northern edge of the Bus Garage. If you wish to find Pound Around on the map, please make a note of the postcode and search for it on maps.google.co.uk.
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The Swan Hotel is situated right next to the River Great Ouse, by the town bridge. They do a most excellent Sunday Lunch. For less than £8 you can get roast beef with all the trimmings, roast turkey or one of about 6 different Sunday Lunch options. The food and wine are fabulous, the surroundings are excellent and so is the service. This is probably the best value Sunday lunch you can find in Bedford.
The address is The Bedford Swan Hotel, The Embankment, Bedford, MK40 1RW. If you wish to find The Bedford Swan Hotel on the map, please make a note of the postcode and search for it on maps.google.co.uk.
For more information on The Swan, please see their website, Here.
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Probaly the best restaurant in Bedford is Four at 4 Kimbolton Road, Bedford, MK40 2NR, telephone number: 01234 344 440. This is an Italian Restaurant and everything about it is fabulous: the decor, the table settings, the background music, the service and of course the food and wine. If you wish to find Four on the map, please make a note of the postcode and search for it on maps.google.co.uk.
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Bedford doesn't really do Parks. The Victorians have bequethed a number of them but there are elements of each one being left to go to rack and ruin. In Bedford Park it is a mock Tudor building, the purpose of which escapes me. In Jubilee Park it is the Jubilee Centre itself. In Russel Park the public toilets are locked and barred and looking about as inviting as a weeks holiday in Iraq!
Bedford Borough Council should hang its head in shame! All three of the above mentioned parks have the potential to be wonderful spaces. They have the potential to be real havens, real centres for spiritual refreshment and rejuvenation. Currently, they are no such thing! The parks are under used and under resourced. I would suggest that they are all just a hair's breadth away from becoming the no go areas, over-run by thugs, vandals and drug addicts, that so many other parks in other parts of the country have become. As yet, the parks have not yet been over-run by thugs, vandals and drug addicts. However, Bedford Borough Council can take no credit for that whatsoever. As far as the author of this short essay can see, such a sorry state is the inexorable fate faced by all three parks. In order to reverse this decline the following points must be addressed immediately:
Of the eye sores The Jubilee Centre in Jubilee Park and the disused toilet block in Russel Park are by far the worse. The disused toilet block in Russel Park is particularly appalling. It looks like the sort of place one would expect to be taken over by crack addicts and heroin addicts shooting up. If this appalling piece of filth is not addressed pretty damn soon that is exactly what it will be. Bedford Borough Council will have no-one to blame but themselves. For God's sake address this matter now, while it is just the cost of building repairs that need to be found. Otherwise Russel Park will probably become a centre to some sort of red light area complete with heroin addicts and prostitution. House prices will be depressed and policing costs will spiral. Address this matter now, Bedford Council. It will save you money in the long run!
Luton on the other hand contains a most excellent park. I am talking of course of Wardown Park. This is a most excellent space. It rivals the best parks that even London can offer! You can find out more about it on Luton Borough Councils own website, which has a page dedicated to Wardown Park at this address: http://www.luton.gov.uk/internet/leisure_and_culture/museums_and_galleries/Wardown%20Park
The heading title for this section was taken from Lou Reed's song, Take a Walk on The Wild Side. The links are as follows:
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The green arrow indicates the location of Tavistock Street. Bedford railway station is in Ashburnham Road. The station forecourt can be seen on the left hand side of Ashburnham Road, between the Ashburnham Road itself and the railway line.
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